Doc's Off To Green Pastures

FORT LAUDERDALE — There were cake, balloons and even a congratulatory plaque at the police department retirement party Thursday, but the honoree wearing the party hat was a horse named Doc Holiday.

After nearly six years with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department's Mounted Patrol, Doc, 24, is returning to his owner to live out his retirement in Hollywood. He's been to every Air & Sea Show, Spring Break, parade and special event the department could throw at him, said Sgt. Bill Stewart, head of the department's mounted patrol. "Doc's a great horse. He's bomb-proof. Nothing scares him," Stewart said. The department started its mounted patrol in 1983. The horses are all donated, and the operation is funded by money seized from drug dealers.

Claudia Gercak, a part-time city employee with tears in her eyes Thursday, has taken care of Doc. "Everybody loves him," Gercak said. "He's so gentle with everyone."

Doc wasn't always the calm, composed officer he is today.

The ASPCA rescued him from an abusive owner in 1994. Before the abuse, he was a champion harness racehorse, said Susan Thomas, a Hollywood firefighter and paramedic who adopted Doc in 1994.

"He was afraid of everyone and everything," Thomas said. "He was a mess and he was very skinny."

Doc slowly regained his health and confidence. Thomas donated Doc to the police department in 2000 because he liked constant activity.

Several officers and city employees joined the television and newspaper cameras to see Doc off. They even let Doc take a step in the barn's kitchen to see the spread they made for him: a cake (carrot, of course), granola bars, some apples and a bucket of carrots.

Doc's homecoming promises to be just as sweet. His girlfriend, J.J., has been waiting in Thomas' Hollywood pasture for his return.

"They ate together and ran together and kind of nuzzled together. It was love at first sight," Thomas said. "So this will be interesting."